McClatchy chief correspondent Mark Seibel reports on Tuesday evening that President Obama’s speech on Syria will last just 15 minutes. That is a massive downgrade from most addresses to the nation. The theme of the address has also reportedly shifted from a pitch for military action against Syria to a triumphal announcement that negotiations are underway.
Obama speech is scheduled to broadcast live on all four major broadcast networks. Its short length will provide a challenge for networks struggling to slot the president in.
According to NBC News, Obama will tell Americans not that they ought to gird their loins for war, but that they should wait around while he futzes with the UN and Russia over Syrian chemical weapons. Obama will still leave open the door to an attack on Syria, making his policy even more opaque. Russian President Vladimir Putin has stated that in order for the United States to pursue its proposals on disarming Syria, it must forswear any military action against Syria. Obama, however, will argue that military action should remain an option – even as he delays a vote on authorizing military action in Congress, a vote he called for last week after declaring he could unilaterally order such action.
Ben Shapiro is Editor-At-Large of Breitbart News and author of the New York Times bestseller “Bullies: How the Left’s Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences America” (Threshold Editions, January 8, 2013).
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